Director Sofia Coppola has come out with the biographical film “Priscilla,” a depiction of the fabled romance told through Priscilla Presley’s eyes rather than Elvis’. Coppola has directed many films, such as “Lost In Translation,” “The Bling Ring,” “Somewhere,” and my personal favorite, “The Virgin Suicides.”
Coppola is Francis Ford Coppola’s daughter, and she followed in his footsteps in the film industry. Francis Ford Coppola is known for directing “The Godfather” series, “The Outsiders,” and many more hits. You can find some similarities between Coppola and her father, but all in all Coppola is different in that she has a very individual sense of self, seen through her directing. Coppola’s films have an indie feel through her cinematography and beautifully chosen soundtracks. A lot of her films involve different washes of pastel colors that come together and create an aesthetic that is unique to the director’s style.
“Priscilla” wasn’t allowed to use any of Elvis’ original songs, so the playlist consists of hits from the 1960s with some newer music as well, which perfectly matches the movie’s vibe. In Coppola’s movies, there’s often a mix of music from the time period the film is set in and modern sounds to create a balance of accuracy and fiction. The film is shot with a vintage color scheme on set. It takes place in the 1960s, so the camera style brings out the time period perfectly with its washes of fogged colors.
Coppola is my favorite director, and I love Priscilla and Elvis Presley, so you can imagine how excited I was to see this movie. I find Priscilla’s life fascinating, so a movie created for the sole purpose of showing her life through her own perspective, hiring Priscilla as the producer, rather than Elvis’ was fascinating to me. They hired Priscilla Presley as a producer on the film and the movie was based on the memoir she wrote, “Elvis and” They were the power couple of the 1960s, and Priscilla was always in the spotlight because of Elvis’ fame. The movie portrays Priscilla’s life through her own eyes, which is a great change in pace from Elvis’ dominating perspective. I think the amount of screen time Elvis had in the film was satisfactory, because it depicted how often he wasn’t present. Franklin senior Jake Meeker agrees, saying “I liked that the movie highlights what her life was like with and without Elvis.”
Priscilla is based on the memoir written by Priscilla Presley herself, called “Elvis and Me,” and Priscilla helped produce the movie. The entire movie is fixed on Priscilla’s perspective, and the tumultuous dynamic between her and Elvis. It was clear that Priscilla wasn’t her true self in his presence. He wanted her to be the perfect and ideal woman, who was only present when he felt like it. In the film, Priscilla tries to stand up to her husband’s controlling ways, but mostly through passive aggression. Every time she attempts to stand up for herself, she gets a taste of Elvis’ angry outbursts; in one instance he even threw a chair at her head.
In “Priscilla,” up-and-coming actress Cailee Spaney plays Priscilla. Jacob Elordi, known from his role in the series “Euphoria,” plays Elvis. The movie begins with Priscilla, a young fourteen year old girl living in West Germany because her father is stationed there for work. Priscilla is perceived as meek and seemingly unhappy with her life in Germany. By the time she’s introduced to Elvis, he’s a star known worldwide. Elvis is infatuated with Priscilla despite their ten year age difference, which doesn’t seem to bother either of them. Elvis guesses Priscilla to be a senior in high school, but when she admits she’s only a ninth grader, he brushes it off. Elvis’ direct quote from the film is “young enough that I can train her anyway I want.” They had a tumultuous relationship because Elvis was constantly on the move due to his military service and singing career. Priscilla was often lonely because of this, not hearing from Elvis for long lengths of time. Elvis buys her a little white dog to fill the lonely void while he travels. In time, the couple arranged for Priscilla to live in Elvis’ Memphis mansion Graceland, in Tennessee, while being enrolled in a Catholic all-girls school paid for by Elvis. Committed to a deal with her father, Priscilla graduates from school in order to stay with Elvis. They get engaged soon afterwards.
She doesn’t have much power even after she is married to Elvis in Graceland. Her father-in-law, Vernon Presley (Tim Post), doesn’t even let her talk to the staff downstairs. When Priscilla wants to take up a job at a boutique, and Elvis replies “When I call you I need you to be there for me.” Meanwhile, Elvis was often absent from Priscilla’s life and present in other women’s. Elvis cheated on Priscilla constantly, never allowing her to travel with him on work trips. Priscilla didn’t get the attention she desired from her husband, which is represented in the film. The film underscores her loneliness, and how much time Priscilla spent by herself.
Elvis was also very particular about Priscilla’s looks. In the film, he suggests she dye her hair black, and make her eyes stand out with more makeup. Priscilla never presented herself without makeup to Elvis, and he would send her back to redo her makeup if it looked too plain. He wanted to mold her into his ideal wife, choosing her outfits and vetoing clothes she wore that he disliked. In one scene, Elvis brings his guy friends to judge the outfits she tries on while shopping. When Priscilla tries on a brown ball gown she likes, Elvis says “I don’t like brown, it reminds me of the military.” Throughout the movie, Priscilla starts to embrace her natural brown hair, and her black hair slowly fades into brown towards the end of the film, when she starts finding herself. Portland Community College student Mada Iserman says, “I loved how they showed her character development from being a young teenage girl whose style and attitude was very dependent on Elvis, and then as she got older she started getting into her own style and started enjoying her life free from him.”
This film is extremely different from director Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” which came out last year. Priscilla wasn’t very prominent in Luhrmann’s film, and Elvis isn’t portrayed as quite as close minded. Priscilla seemed more confident in herself in “Elvis” than she did in “Priscilla,” and Coppola’s film felt much more realistically depicted than Luhrmann’s was. “Priscilla” called attention to the problematic relationship between her and Elvis much more clearly than in other movies. “Elvis” was a very glamorous movie, focusing on his glory but not much of his personal life. “Priscilla,” on the other hand, provides insight on the couple’s life within Graceland, countering the sensational stories tabloids told for years. I think the message Coppola wanted to show the audience was that Priscilla was taken into this life as a young girl, without much assurance or self-confidence. Priscilla looked up to and centered her life around Elvis until she had enough courage to leave. In Coppola’s film, Priscilla remarks, “I want a life of my own,” as she drives out of Graceland. Priscilla never stopped loving Elvis, him being her “first love and her last” as she once said. She felt like she was living her life through Elvis. When she decided to leave him, she started conclusively living her own life.